[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

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Originally Posted by janvanvurpa

..On those roads which seem to be perfect for powerful 4wd turbocharged cars.

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I'd say the turbo 4wd cars actually have less advantage at Otago than most rallies.

Their biggest advantage is the torque and traction giving better acceleration out of slower corners, especially when its slippery or rough.

The fast, flowing, smooth roads mean there is less of that advantage, and the faster 2wd cars (even the classics) often have more outright power and less weight.

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Originally Posted by CahunaKiwi

To put it in perspective Mads Ostberg drove a similar BDA in this year's event and won the Classics division after a trouble-free drive, yet he finished over 4 minutes behind the same driver (Phil Campbell) who Paddon beat for that 2015 win.

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For further comparison, Ostbergs winning margin in the classic class was under 2 minutes... over a middle aged real estate agent with a schoolgirl codriver. ;)

I don't say that to run Ostberg down, he's a talented driver who I think is often underrated. Just giving some comparison for the speed of the field and level of competition.

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Originally Posted by Barreis

guys had pretty good chance to show how good they are in WRC but blew it. i mean, they were in the works team. weren't they? c'mon

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Paddon had a WRC win (by beating Ogier in a straight fight on a powerstage too), a bunch of podiums and a 4th place championship result. Not sure how that could possibly be considered 'blowing his chance'? He had a nightmare year in 2017, proved in 2018 he had come back from that, but got squeezed out by team politics.

Breen never achieved the same results to be fair, but 2 podiums and was in contention enough times to prove he has the pace. Probably just needed to show it more consistently.

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

There are also three other teams who chose not to sign him. Breen was even connected to all four teams in the rumors of the last silly season.

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Also hard to compete with their signings of ex-world champions, multiple WRC winners, drivers with good sponsors and much more experienced drivers.

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Originally Posted by janvanvurpa

After all he did win overall just a few years ago in an Appendix K Historic Escort on those same roads.
Overall. On carbs with H pattern gearbox. Ad rear leaf springs..On those roads which seem to be perfect for powerful 4wd turbocharged cars. And 3 other old 2wd cars were in the top 12..

It says something about the level of the field....

Sure I love the old cars but.............

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If you look at the top speeds for the stages you will see a Mark 2 Escort hit the highest speed on one of the stages for this year's Otago rally at around 120 mph. There are a few lease/ hire BDG 2 liter MK2 Escorts and other cars if people wish to prove how slow everyone is driving during next year's event.

NZ events are usually about getting out and having a weekend away from home and having a bit of fun for the competitors (it is about taking part). Most are not looking for full time works professional drives or have big sponsorship budgets. Budgets used for a nz rally entrant used to be around NZ$35 per rally kilometre. Factory teams were estimated to spend 100 times this. Driving on 1 percent of a wrc team per kilometre budget is going to make you look slow.

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Originally Posted by GravelBen

proved in 2018 he had come back from that, but got squeezed out by team politics.

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He got dropped cause the team thought that a 9 time world champion who just won a rally might be a better choice.
Whether it was for wins, points, media attention or car development is not so easy to say, probably a combination of all that. In any case the combination of all these is really hard to compete against for a seat, like Eddie says.

So Bertelli give the fiesta for a ride to Andolfi as he promised at Aprils 1st
https://twitter.com/fuckmatie37/stat...50122229112835

For a test only.

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Originally Posted by Zeakiwi2

If you look at the top speeds for the stages you will see a Mark 2 Escort hit the highest speed on one of the stages for this year's Otago rally at around 120 mph.

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And I see highest speed for 6 of the 7 stages on Sunday (and highest speed of the rally) were set by another NA 2wd... Klinky's RX8 is quite a weapon though! :eek:

Top speeds aren't really important in measuring the performance on rally stages. There must be a very long straight where any car will hit its top speed and at that point it's up to the gear ratios who goes fastest. And most likely the top cars were set for shorter gear ratios to get a better performance on the twisty sections, which matters often more in rallying.